HDP puts blame on gov’t for stall in Kurdish bid process

ANKARA / DİYARBAKIR

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The co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has accused the government of one-sided acts that have obstructed a joint statement that could help improve the fate of the Kurdish bid.

Such a joint statement, expected on Feb. 15, did not materialize due to the government’s “imposing a one-sided stance and manipulations,” the HDP’s Selahattin Demirtaş said while responding to reporters’ questions on the content of a 10-item “resolution draft” by Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Had the joint communiqué been publicized, a unilateral statement of permanent cease-fire was slated to be announced by Öcalan.

Senior PKK leaders also welcomed the Öcalan plan, but criticized the government for not taking concrete steps on the Kurdish bid.

A written statement last week by the Kurdistan Communities’ Union (KCK), a supra-organization that includes the PKK, demanded improvement.

“Or else … the process has come to the very dangerous, crucial point of ending for us,” it read.
The HDP said the government should make the content of the Öcalan plan public.

“Or we want the [official] negotiations to start as soon as possible,” Demirtaş said. “We are working for sustainable peace.”

Yesterday, a delegation from the HDP departed to northern Iraq to review recent developments over the ongoing Kurdish resolution process with PKK leaders in the second visit in two weeks.

The talks will be carried out by Istanbul MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Ceylan Bağrıyanık, the HDP said, without giving further details.

The government’s insistence in passing a controversial Homeland Security Package is also hampering the peace process as the HDP strongly opposes to the bill.

HDP deputy parliamentary group chair İdris Baluken reiterated his party’s call on the ruling AKP government to “immediately” withdraw the controversial bill, which he said was “threatening social peace and hanging over the ‘resolution process’ like the sword of Damocles.”

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said yesterday that opposition parties had not made a logical offer on the security bill but were just trying to prevent a parliamentary discussion.

“Whatever it takes, the [security bill] will pass parliament to protect freedoms and security in Turkey,” Davutoğlu said.